Lantern Festival 2010

Lantern Festival was amazing. Now this is what I think of when I think of Asian festivals. Lots of bright lights, fireworks, tons of people, and lots of food. We got very lucky this year and Taiwan’s National Lantern Festival was in Chiayi, just a few blocks from my work. It was a whole week of festivities with different nightly shows and fireworks every night at 7 and at 9. Our park also had lots of different sculptures that took weeks for them to put up. The most impressive being a large wood dome structure that I initially thought they were going to set on fire, like the bonfire at Alabama for home coming.

The lanterns were made by professionals and amateurs all over Taiwan. If I had know I could have made one and entered it I would have. Most of the lanterns were made out of cloth that was pulled over a wire frame and their were quite a few that were animatronic. I was so excited about all the different lanterns I couldn’t help myself from taking lots of pictures. I made a little video so you could see just a sampling of all the different lanterns. Some things you should know before watching that will help you understand some of the lanterns.

There were many lanterns that contained things about Taiwan and Chiayi. Each city in Taiwan is known for a specific food. Chiayi is known for turkey rice and there were lanterns with turkeys and rice bowls. Chiayi is also know for its park. We have a fabulously big park and in the middle of the park is the Chiayi Tower and on the very top is a magnolia which is the flower of Chiayi county. 2010 is the year of the tiger and the National Lantern was of course a tiger and their were many smaller tiger lanterns as well. It’s also helpful to know that in Taiwan it’s all about financial prosperity and 金元寶 symbolizes gold and money.

There were a lot more pop cultural references than I would have expected. They love spongebob, snoopy, winnie the pooh, hello kitty, all things Disney, Doraemon, Butter Lion, and the 7/11 character. Sometimes they combined their love for winnie the pooh and tigers and inevitably there were numerous Tiggers. They also love baseball, music, and dinosaurs. They love dinosaurs so much that there was an entire field dedicated to just dinosaur lanterns, which was actually my favorite part.

Now you are ready to watch my video of all the different lanterns I saw. Just click here 2010 LANTERN FESTIVAL VIDEO and away you go. I hope you enjoy it.

Responses

Ohhh my! Wow! When you said lantern festival I was thinking of the “regular” lanterns us Americans think of. You know the ones haning from our awning when we go camping. I had no idea they were so detailed, colorful and large. Beautiful! What is the obsession with dinosaurs?? I am so glad you had the chance to see that……maybe a tad jealous! Thanks for the video!

That’s what I thought when I was first told about lantern festival. I had no idea they would be shapes and full designs. They look rather easy to make and I was thinking that maybe we could give it a try when I come home. I thought the kids might like it. Well, really it’s more for me, but I figure crafty people like us should be able to make one of these things